156. Gaara From Sunagakure

In the evening, the chat group members gathered.

Warrod was a little surprised that Izumi brought Momo and Yuki Onna. Warrod remembered that Momo could revive the dead. Still, he didn't know what purpose Izumi brought her. On the other hand, Warrod could feel the chilly air around Yuki Onna. So, her ability must be related to ice.

"So, do you intend to let them participate in the Chūnin exam?" Warrod pointed at Momo and Yuki-Onna while asking.

"Only Yuki Onna will." Izumi replied.

"So Yuki Onna, then you, Kuroneko, Kazuma, Hiiro, and Luffy?" Warrod asked to confirm.

Izumi nodded. He had planned to pick Kuro Douji to participate. However, he was too dangerous. No, his weapon was. With his weapon, he couldn't control his power properly. That was why Izumi picked Yuki Onna instead.

"Hey, hey, what about me?" Rori raised her hand to ask.

"Remember your age, Rori!" Izumi wanted to say that, but thinking about how taboo it was to talk about age in front of her, Izumi just stared at her silently.

Warrod was the one who spoke instead.

"Do you want to bully little kids? You should leave the Chūnin exam to them!"

"Ehhh, how disappointing!" Rori complained while putting on a dissatisfied look.

"As for our teams..." Izumi glanced at the others, to which Kuroneko immediately pulled the Yuki Onna with her. Then, she said,

"I want to team up with Yuki Onna and Luffy!"

"Hey, hey, how can you decide one-sidedly? I want to be paired with her. If you want to team up with her, you should let me join your team!" Kazuma protested.

Kuroneko dragged Yuki Onna to step back.

"No fuckin way! You're a lusty pervy NEET! I'll bet you'll look for opportunities to control our bodies using your Stand."

"Oi, oi. Don't slander me! I'm indeed a bit lustful, but how could I dare to do that?"

"You don't dare to do that "openly". But you certainly dare to do that "secretly", right? Scummyzuma!"

"This bitch. Just because she's stronger than me, she always opposes me." Kazuma grumbled inwardly.

Izumi patted Kazuma's shoulder.

"Just give up, Kazuma! Doesn't it really matter who the teammates are? After all, if you want to control a girl's body, you will meet during the Chūnin exam. You can do that as you please."

And then, Kazuma put his arm on Izumi's shoulder.

"Oh. You know me so well, Izumi."

Izumi nodded.

"That's right. So, if you are later targeted by many girls who want to kill you, I will try my best to run away and hide."

Couldn't believe what Izumi said. Kazuma turned his head.

"Where's our friendship?" Kazuma asked.

"That's the so-called friendship. A person likes a friend who is in trouble while giving a burst of laughter."

Kazuma was speechless at Izumi. He didn't expect Izumi would think of it as friendship.

"Kuroneko, you can't handle Luffy! He will be on my team."

By using a Divine Sword, Kuroneko might handle him if he made trouble. However, not with the stomach. That was why Izumi thought it was better to leave Luffy to him. If that were the case, the only one who would be Kuroneko's teammate was…

"Then, Hiiro, team up with me!"

"You should be the one to team up with me!"

Hiiro's words irritated Kuroneko, she pointed her index finger at Hiiro and snapped at him.

"Why are you so annoying? Just come here!"

"Tch." Hiiro felt that Kuroneko resembled Liliyn. In his thoughts, doing solo was better than teaming up.

"What's with that "tch"??"

"Hiiro, the Chūnin exam requires 3 people in 1 team. I have already decided that I will be on a team with Kazuma and Luffy. In that case, you should join Kuroneko's team."

Since Kazuma was a person who embraced gender equality, there was no way Kuroneko would want to be on the same team as him.

Actually, Kazuma wasn't an "advocate of gender equality" in the first place. What made him change was, his childhood friend had made a promise to Kazuma long ago to be his marriage partner. However, Kazuma saw in front of his eyes that the girl who was his childhood friend had been dating a stranger. The worst part of it was, the girl totally forgot about Kazuma.

Since then, he became an advocate of gender equality and became more shut in to run away from reality. In the end, he actually died of a heart attack because he thought he was going to be crushed by a truck, even though what he saw at that time was not a truck but a tractor.

— — — —

The next day.

After deciding on each team member, Team Kuroneko went somewhere with the intention of understanding each other's abilities. Regarding Yuki Onna, Izumi ordered her to obey what Kuroneko and Hiiro said since they were on the same team.

Meanwhile, Izumi tried to teach Ninjutsu to Kazuma and Luffy. Whether they could master it or not depends on their determination and intentions.

With a span of only a week from the Chūnin exam, Izumi also took the time to meditate and train to improve his martial art. Be it his sword art, or internal skills.

The next day, when Izumi and the others were going somewhere, he heard a shout.

"Let him go!"

That voice was so familiar. And because Izumi felt that there was a problem, Izumi smirked and approached where the voice came from.

Sometime after, he saw a little kid being strangled by a teenager with triangular face-paint that designed his face like a clown.

"Hmmm? That clown… umm puppeteer, what was his name again? I forgot."

Kuroneko naturally knew him. He should be a ninja from Sunagakure. However, she totally forgot his name since that guy was just a side character.

Izumi answered.

"His name is Kankuro."

Kankuro is a young shinobi from Sunagakure village. And behind him is a blonde-haired girl carrying something on her back tied with a white cloth, she is Temari. Izumi also saw another one standing on the tree branch who was none other than Gaara.

"Let's see if he can dodge this! Hehehe!"

Izumi stretched out his hand, then he flicked his fingers, creating a bullet of wind that was barely visible to the naked eye.

Gaara noticed Izumi's attack and immediately warned Kankuro.

"Kankuro, back off!"

Luckily Kankuro reacted in time. Even so, his wrist was still grazed by the wind bullet that Izumi had created so his grip on the little kid loosened.

Izumi then created wind to pull the little kid away from Kankuro.

"How lucky you are, hehehe."

Izumi chuckled as he headed toward Kankuro.

"Who are you guys?"

Kankuro narrowed his eyes and asked Izumi with hostility shown on his face. If Gaara had not warned him, perhaps his hand could have been severed or seriously injured.

The symbol on Izumi's forehead protector looked foreign. He didn't know where Izumi came from. Not only Kankuro, Gaara and Temari also saw that symbol for the first time.

"Izumi-san." Naruto turned to Izumi with gratitude. Sakura was there as well. She wanted to help, but with the little kid being held hostage, she could do nothing. She was glad that Izumi came in time.

Naruto turned to the little kid.

"Konohamaru, are you alright?"

That kid was called Konohamaru. He should be the Hokage's grandson.

Since that kid was alright, Izumi turned to Luffy who was behind him. He pointed at Gaara.

"Luffy, that guy is similar to Crocodile. However, he can't turn his body to sand just like what Crocodile did."

"For real?"

"Yup."

"I wonder who is stronger between them."

Luffy was lucky enough to not die when fighting against Crocodile since he underestimated Luffy. And after his first fight, Luffy figured out Crocodile's weakness. That was why he could win even though Luffy himself almost died as a result.

However, the case wouldn't be the same against Gaara. If Gaara transformed into a one-tailed beast, Luffy's chance to win was almost zero.

Seeing Izumi who just ignored him, Kankuro became furious.

"Oi, didn't you hear me?"

"You're talking to me?" Izumi pointed at himself with a sneer.

Kankuro wanted to use his puppet to attack Izumi. While Izumi already prepared a compression of wind around his palm. Luckily, Gaara stopped Kankuro.

"Kankuro, stop!"

Kankuro was stunned. Gaara already felt danger when Izumi compressed the wind around his palm. As confident as he was in confronting Izumi, he knew this was not the time to act.

Gaara glanced at Izumi and asked.

"What's your name?"

"Gojo Satoru." Izumi just replied casually.

Gaara frowned. He should have heard Naruto called Izumi. So Izumi was definitely lying.

Kuroneko and Kazuma twitched when both of them heard Izumi calling himself Gojo Satoru. If Izumi wanted to lie, he didn't need to blatantly deceive others.

"I'll remember your face. Next time, I'll definitely kill you!" Gaara declared coldly.

"Hahaha, even if you turn into that thing, I doubt you can kill me."

Hearing Izumi's words, Gaara trembled and his expression darkened. His killing intent was overflowing. However, he did nothing and prepared to leave.

"Wait, what's your name?"

Sasuke appeared out of the blue. It seemed Sasuke could feel how strong Gaara was and wanted to fight him before challenging Izumi. That meant he acknowledged that Izumi was stronger than Gaara.

"Gaara. You're Uchiha Sasuke, right? The so-called genius from Konohagakure. I'll remember you as well and wait for me to kill you!" With an indifferent expression, he answered Sasuke then left with Kankuro and Temari.